Halloween

Well I guess I'd better do the tradition Halloween post. The kids got to dress up quite a few times this year. Gavin did for school, Bressain's work party, a church party and then trunk or treat. He chose to be Darth Vader a couple times and Spiderman a couple times. Parker was a Monkey a few times and a Tiger once. They had fun and got entirely too much candy. We ended up dumping their buckets into a big bowl and used that for giving to our Trick or Treaters. (is that mean?)

Parker did not understand what was going on. Someone would give him a piece of candy and he wanted to eat it right then and there. He would get so mad when we made him stick it in his bag for later. This was the first year that Gavin cared so much about his candy--he had to choose which one you could have, and if you didn't ask first he would get upset with you. I'm just happy to have it all out of the house!

4th of July-Part 2-Camping!

My family went up to Whiting campground for an over nighter for the 4th. This was Gavin's first camping experience other than Father 'n Sons. We went up Sunday afternoon and came back Monday afternoon. Both Gavin and Parker had a blast. It was a lot of work keeping Parker out of trouble. He wasn't happy to stay around our campsite, he had to roam around into the street and up the mountains. We spent the night in my parents trailer, and we all actually slept pretty well. We took bikes up for the boys, but for some reason Parker only wanted to ride his cousin Katie's Dora bike. Overall, it was fun, I might consider doing it again. I'm not much of a camper, but I need to let my kids experience the fun of it.

Let's Go Fly a Kite!!

My nephew gave Gavin a Star Wars kite, that he no longer wanted. So of course Gavin was stoked to go fly it. So one Sunday afternoon Bressain and Gavin walked over to the field by our house and got it up in the air in about 30 seconds. My only experience with kite flying is frustration because I could never get it to stay in the air, so I was very impressed with Bressain's flying abilities. Gavin thought it was pretty dang cool!! My boys are so blessed to have such an awesome, fun dad!!

Eat it or Wear it?

While the boys eat lunch, I try to sneak in a few minutes of laptop time. One day Parker got sick of waiting for me to get him down, this is what I found--luckily he had eaten most of his lunch. Isn't he a handsome little stinker? I sure think so, but I may be biased.

Of course after I got the camera out Gavin had to show us his poses as well.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Isn't it though?



Title from Andy Williams (c'mon, you know that album rocks)

Officially this is the Christmas post but before I get to that, a little news first. So you know last time when I showed my poor toe? Well, the freaking nail finally came off. I wish it had actually fallen off but there's no point in complaining about it now. I now know what it sounds like for a nail to rip off though... yeah, it's kind of weird. I didn't post pics of the toe after the nail came off in this post because it's kind of gruesome but if you're curious and aren't easily grossed out, you can look at them here.  It looks a little better now that I've gone to the podiatrist about it but it'll take a full year to grow back, ugh.

Anyway, Christmas!  Last year was pretty good when Gavin was three but this year has been a lot better with him being four.  Man, I can't believe how much that kid has grown up since last year!  We've been winding him up about Santa and the whole thing all month long.  We went and saw Santa a few times and he kept going back and forth on what he wanted from Star Wars games/movies/toys to a bike to not knowing what he wanted.  Parker isn't any easier since he can't even tell us what he wants, nor does he really care at his age.


Snockered by snow! Click for more random kid pics.

As you can see, we've had snow most of the month which really sets the mood for Christmas.  I'm glad it snowed because we didn't put up Christmas lights on the house this year and the snow at least adds something.  Maybe next year when we haven't just bought a house we'll do lights.  We still did a Christmas tree and Leslie got a lighted garland thing to put on the stairs that looks nice.

Christmas Eve was pretty snazzy.  I didn't have to work and Gavin was about as wound up as could be.  After hanging out at Leslie's parent's house, we opened up the kids' new pajamas and got ready for Santa.  We put out some cookies and carrots and wrote a little note for him.  We also read some passages from Luke from the Bible to remind Gavin and ourselves why we really celebrate Christmas.  I think he got the point but I'm sure he forgot it all fairly quick that night.  After we read that, we read The Night Before Christmas and sent the kids to bed.  I was worried Gavin would have a hard time sleeping but he went right out.  It took us a while to get to sleep however but we weren't up that late.

The next morning Gavin ran into our room telling us that Santa had come!  So we all got up, grabbed our cameras and had a look at what he had left us.  It was kind of funny because the living room is still empty except for the Christmas tree and the new toys but having the extra room was kind of nice to sprawl out on.  I think everyone got what they wanted and there were enough surprises for all.  Gavin got his first 2-wheeled bike, a Batman car toy, Star Wars Play Doh set, Star Wars movie, some underwear, an outfit and a few books.  Parker got a busy table, a crocodile car, stacking toy, an outfit and a few books.  Leslie got a curio cabinet (that's a story in of itself, we totally made out like bandits on that), a cell phone, nativity scene piece and some clothes.  I got the hookup with a new cell phone, a jump drive, a game, a digital photo frame and some pants.

The bank already feels the pain of Christmas but with some savvy shopping, I think we got a lot for little money.  This is a good thing because in January we have the car registration, anniversary (7 years zomg!) and then Parker's first birthday.  I hope we survive OK through all that.  All I can say is hooray for tax refunds.

Hope you had a great Christmas as well and have a happy new year!

No More Runnin'

Title from Animal Collective

So yeah, that's my poor toe. I was at a store looking at some sleds with Gavin and the whole stack fell on my foot. Hurt like crazy at the time but it looks worse than it feels. The toenail looks about the same but the rest of the toe has healed up ok, just waiting for that fun day when it falls off. Good thing I'm sort of a masochist or else I would really be dreading it.

So the holidays are upon us in full force! It really is true that the older you get, the faster time seems to fly because I feel like I blinked and the month went from August to December. But before I get into that, there were some good times in the last few months, first of which was Halloween.


Best picture we got of the kids for Halloween, too bad Leslie wasn't in it. Click for more pics.


Halloween was almost like Christmas for Gavin for some reason. Part of it was because of the promise of tons of free candy and the other part was because he was able to dress up like a Jedi this year.

Now, I need to explain the whole Jedi thing. I have a coworker with kids around the same age as mine and with the whole "geek cred" thing we have going on, we got to talking about what our kids were into. He was going on about how much his kids were into Star Wars and how cool that was since it was something he was into as well. I thought it would be pretty cool if Gavin could get into Star Wars too but his favorite things at the time were Thomas the Train and Curious George. I wanted to see if I could get him into Star Wars but had to find out how.

The first thing I tried was having him watch Star Wars - A New Hope. With him being 3 years old, that lasted like 10 minutes. I then showed him some of the clone wars cartoons (not the CGI ones, the good ones drawn by the same guy that did Samurai Jack). He seemed to really enjoy those since they were cartoons and they were only like 10-15 minutes at a time. Then he would watch me play Knights of the Old Republic and would really get into it.

Gavin had already warmed up to Star Wars but I figured I'd seal the deal with Lego Star Wars. Holy crap did that work, and then some. That kid can't get enough of that game. Now he's all about Star Wars (not to mention when he sees Legos at the store he says, "Hey dad, Star Wars!" regardless of if they're Star Wars themed or not).

This has become a dual-edged sword with him though. On the one hand, he's all about Star Wars now and we have something we can do together and will even watch one of the movies with me. But on the other hand, whenever he's on the computer, it's Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars and first thing when I get home from work it's always "Can we go play Star Wars?". Which can be good since it's a good way to get him to be obedient. My mom would be very familiar with this "do it or be grounded from the game" tactic. I just wish he'd play more educational games when he's on the computer. Oh well, I'm sure we'll figure something out.

Anyway, for Halloween I helped feed the beast and got him an Obi Wan Kenobi costume and a lightsaber. He was just over the moon about the whole thing and was more excited about wearing the costume than getting the candy. I even got him saying "These aren't the droids you're looking for" and other phrases at random, pretty funny stuff.


Probably the first of many cakes that I'll design for the kids. Click for more birthday pics.


I hate for this post to be all about Gavin but the next post should have a lot more Parker action. Gavin turned 4 in November! And as soon as he turned 4 he said he can't wait until he turns 5. Enjoy being 4 son, you only get to do it once.

We once again fed the Star Wars beast and went with a Star Wars theme. We got him a Darth Vader costume that ended up having the pants sewed on sideways (we took it back and got one that wasn't messed up) and a Darth Vader lightsaber. The whole Vader costume was kind of a gamble since he actually asked for a "shoot gun" but he really likes it. He'll dress up like Vader, hand me the blue or green lightsaber and say, "I'm gonna get you daddy!". We'll smack sabers around for a while until Leslie tells us to knock it off but he really enjoys it.

The Other Holidays

I ran out of pictures but we also had a great Thanksgiving this year. We were able to go down to Price and see the whole family down there including all the new baby cousins. Actually, I lied about new pics, forgot about these:


ZOMG Babies!

Those were taken back in September so they're a lot bigger now but holy crap lots of boys. We got them back together in the same pose at Thanksgiving but I forgot my camera :-(.

Anyway, I usually don't like driving to Price because it's the land that time forgot but I'm always happy to see my parents and siblings. It's nice to remember how I should act and aspire to be like when I'm around them all. The meal was good and the kids had a good time.

Christmas is right around the corner so I won't go too far into that but I'm pretty excited about this year. It's easier to get Gavin excited for something and Leslie isn't pregnant like last year so hopefully we'll be able to travel a bit more and enjoy ourselves. We've also got about half of Christmas sorted out so that only adds to the excitement. Next post will probably be about the Christmas aftermath so you'll want to watch for that. Also, look for me on Facebook as I finally caved in and reactivated my account (got sick of the wife knowing more about my family than I do).

Blood Flower

No, we're not putting shaving gel on your tongue.


Title from Tilly and the Wall

I just got back from the Newell (Leslie's mom's family) family reunion several hours ago in East Canyon. I'm usually not super crazy about going to East Canyon (running resorts like an HOA just doesn't work kids), but it wasn't that bad this time around. I don't know if it was having a kid that can actually participate in activities, the new availability of wireless Internet or the fact that we slept in Park City in a condo but I actually enjoyed it. I still don't like the place but the mix of people and food made be look past East Canyon's foibles (I'm really trying to be nice here but apparently it's not working).

Before I get too much into the reunion, the day before leaving we decided to let the kitties out of the garage. We had originally put them in the garage for like a day and then moved them to the downstairs bathroom. After a few days of that (and several instances of brave kittens wandering upstairs when I let them out so Gavin and I could play with them in the open), Leslie reminded me that she had signed up for outside cats, not inside cats. I agreed, but I was still afraid of letting these little guys outside. What if a skunk, raccoon or some other nocturnal animal beat up or killed them? I could appreciate her argument however and I thought the cats were getting bored so they were moved to the garage.

After a few days of fearing that we'd run them over when pulling into the garage, we pondered what we should do. The thing that was holding us back was the back fence has a bunch of holes below it where mice have burrowed and we were worried the kittens would run out and not be able to get back in. We got some mink wire from Leslie's dad to patch the holes but then I realized that pretty much the whole length of the fence was too high and I'd have to do this along the whole back fence. I figured that there was no point in installing it everywhere, trying to prevent the inevitable (laziness might have played a factor as well) and moved the kittens to the back yard. They survived one night so what's a night of us going away? I worried while we were away but when we came back, they were right there safe and sound, anxious to see me home (not for Gavin yet unfortunately... he's still learning how to make them not hate him).


Eat it Gavin! Eat it like your ride back home depends on it!


As Leslie would put it, "that's enough about cats." The reunion had some fun activities for Gavin. He made a bug jar, a nifty hat and a bookmark for mom. As you can see above (click for more pics of the event) we also entered him into the watermelon eating contest. The poor kid didn't ask to be entered, we just sort of threw him in there. But he was a good sport about the whole thing. I got him pumped up by having him make manly grunty noises and such. I don't know if he knew what was going on or not but once they said "start" he had 3-5 people yelling for him to eat that melon really, really fast. He didn't win (0-11 year old boys) but I was surprised by how much he put away. I really wish I had a video of the contest, it was just too funny to see him snorting it down as fast as his little 3-year-old mouth could go!

There were other activities such as the horseshoe throwing contest which I did a horrible job of (at least we were beaten by the winning team... sounds better on paper anyway). There was the raffle or lottery or whatever people were calling it where people bid on items (that sounds more like an auction though it's not an auction either... if there are enough comments about it I'll explain how it worked) as well. Leslie bid on a bunch of stuff and since she bid on stuff not many people wanted, we sort of made out like bandits. Gavin got a marshmallow gun, a cheap lightsabery-type sword and some candy, Parker got some burp rags, bibs and a toy phone. I just sat back and watched the spectacle.

Like I mentioned before, we stayed in Park City at some place and went back to East Canyon for some swimming and cousin time the next day. That was interesting enough but I think everyone just wanted to rest until it was time to go home.

Family reunions can be fun and all but since I'm a total home-body, I'm glad when I get home. I know Gavin really enjoyed himself and even Parker got in on some of the action. It seemed like such a long weekend yet here I am getting ready for bed and another fun-filled week of work and sorting out this house. You never know, I may have another post sooner than you think.

Loved Despite of Great Faults

Click the image for more moving pics, another dose of gratuitous baby pics can be found here (same album as last time, just added a few more pics).




Title from Blonde Redhead)

So we finally moved. The silly thing is those that usually read this blog probably helped us so you all already knew that. Thanks for helping us move though, it went a lot better than I thought it would. I was actually pretty happy to not really need much help from the ward as I know it sucks to go help a ward member to only have like no family there helping. I would attribute a lot of the ease of the move to Leslie though, she got most everything packed up and ready to go so nobody had to wait on us to pack anything.

Home Ownership

So how about home ownership eh? I never thought there would be so much to do to get a house in order. The unpacking was to be expected and the utilities were cake but everything else is such a time and money sink!

The first thing we wanted to sort out was the chirping smoke detectors. If you helped us move you probably heard the bloody things always chirping away. Anyway, we got Leslie's dad to bring over a ladder and change the batteries in all the smoke detectors (we also replaced the living room light bulbs with fluorescent bulbs to save energy and lower the heat from the lights... eventually I'll want to do the whole house). We thought we had stopped the chirping but that night two of them started chirping again. I reset them and they stopped. The next night they started up AGAIN! At this point I just pulled them out of their sockets and I've yet to put them back up. I think they're broken and that brand doesn't sell that line anymore so I'm still hunting for new ones to replace them. At least there's no more chirping at night.

The next major thing to come up was getting the yards in order. I broke out my electric lawnmower and started mowing the front lawn. I went with the corded variety so of course the first thing to happen is I ran out of cord. Once we got that sorted out, I came to the realization that about a quarter of my grass is freaking crabgrass. Isn't that just awesome? I don't think there's a whole lot I can do about it now but as the season ends, I'm going to get some crabgrass preventer fertilizer. I did the back lawn another day and since it hadn't been done for like a month it took me like 2-3 hours to do and even then it didn't look very good. I kid you not, there was some grass that was about two feet high or higher.

Another thing we wanted to take care of was something we've wanted since the town home: soft water. After some brief investigation we hit a sale at Sears and bought one. It was surprisingly cheap to buy (like $520) but the installation was kind of steep ($200, ugh). We kind of didn't care how much it cost because the savings we'd get on soap and wear & tear on our pipes would make it worth it. Leslie likes what it does for her skin and hair as well so I'm calling wins all around.

We also decided that we don't want to be the ladder-borrowing types (that requires getting to know your neighbors, nuts to that) and got us a ladder. We were at Costco when a guy was doing a demonstration for those Little Giant ladders. It seemed like a good deal so we broke down and bought one. They're kind of expensive but he dropped the price a little and threw in a few accessories, it's buying local (they're located here in Springville) and I've always kind of wanted one anyway.

Pest Control

One day when I was mowing the lawn, Gavin yelled for me and Leslie to come look at something he found. We looked over and we found this little mouse that had been knocked out or ran over by the lawnmower (no guts though). It moved when I touched it so it was still kind of alive. I put on some gloves, picked it up and threw it against the side of the garbage can as hard as I could. If the impact didn't kill it, I'm sure the methane gas from Parker's poopy diapers finished it off. Anyway, between all the mysterious holes we've been finding in the back yard and this incident we decided to get...


KITTAYS! (click to see their faces)


Oh c'mon, don't act so surprised. I've been wanting a cat for ages but I couldn't disobey my rules on animals:

1. If it poops, it can't stay in the house (got this from my mom but she has since defected and let a little yapper into the house but I'm going to keep up the fight).
   
2. It needs room to run around.

We couldn't do #2 at the town home but now that we have room, I'm down for cats. We got them from some lady in Orem that was giving them away for free. They were pretty cute and reminded me of my old cat Mandy so we decided to get them. We got 2 because a lot of people say cats do better in pairs (which so far has proven to be true).

I took them to the vet to get their shots going and what we thought were 2 girls ended up being a boy and a girl. Because of this we plan on getting them fixed as soon as we can since apparently even siblings may try to mate... yeah. I think we came up with names though, the male is going to be called Scratch Fury: Destroyer of Worlds (or Scratch for short) and the female is either going to be Wynn or Wynnie depending on what she'll respond to (get it? Scratch & Wynn? Guffaw!). Anyway, right now they're living in the garage until I can patch the holes in the back yard so that they don't run away (they will eventually as is the nature of cats but we want them to know this is their home first). Once they're living in the back yard, the hunt can begin. Now if only I could find a pet that murders wasps...

Oh Yeah, I Have Kids

So the kids... I think they've enjoyed the new house. Gavin actually has a backyard worth playing in now and Parker can puke in many more places than before. Actually, we think we may have gotten a handle on the puking thing. We got him on some kind of pill that seems to be helping, not 100% but enough to make things tolerable. Gavin likes the new kittens a lot but they don't seem to be returning the love quite yet. Once he figures out that they don't like to be held upside down they may warm up to him.

Gavin also started pre-school this week:


Gavin is geared up and good to go for the big world of pre-school.


We had him going to a summer pre-school program but that ended a few weeks ago. This pre-school runs the normal school season (only MWF for 2.5 hours though) so it won't be done until May. He's been really enjoying school. He's still a little shy at first but he's had chances to really let himself go and interact with other kids. He's a smart little bugger too, he can count to 12 and sing his ABC's already. I have high hopes for my kids when it comes to education so it gives me great pride to see him doing so well. Parker doesn't seem like he's going to be a slouch either so here's hoping.

Parker's motor skills seem to be developing a bit lately as well. He's got the whole rolling thing down now (though I swear he's going to dislocate his shoulder one of these days the way he does it) and is so very close to crawling. He does this sort of roll/army crawl thing to get around but it's not fast enough for him so he just cries when he can't get his way (I dread the tantrums this kid is going to throw when he's a toddler). His bottom teeth came through as well so he's finally out of the infant stage and into the baby stage.

It Never Stops

A lot has happened in the last few weeks but it seems like the projects don't have an end in sight. I'd like to paint the base boards, get new carpet, get more furniture, get a better desk, etc. but I guess I just need to be patient. I'll let you all know when all that stuff goes down or at least post new pictures when I get them.

Kissing The Beehive

Gratuitous baby pics can be found here! So click it!


Title from Wolf Parade)

So these last few months have been crazy. We figured in our infinite wisdom that we'd like to sell our place in one of the crappiest markets. Part of our reasons are we're kind of running out of room in the town home, the mortgage rates are really low and quite frankly, I think we can afford something bigger.

We put the house up for sale some time in March thinking that it would sell really fast. I mean, we had the only place with our floor plan for sale, the location is great and we chose a decent price to sell for. This is when we discovered that the market wasn't as good as our agent said it could be. I think a lot of what killed us was the state money available for people who bought new houses (still angry about that since it's another one of those wonderful bailouts).

After the state money ran out and we lowered our price $10k, we finally started getting some people looking as well as some offers. I found it both funny and infuriating with the kind of offers coming through. One was for like $15k less than we paid for our place brand new! I now know why it's good to have an agent because if someone called me with an offer like that, I think I would just start laughing on the phone, call them some dirty names and to call back when they want to be serious. In the end though, we found someone that gave us a decent offer (this after like 3 months of being on the market).

Once we got our offer, it was time to start looking for a place of our own. I don't know which is worse, selling a home or trying to buy one. I was hoping that it would be like kids in a candy store but after you take into account all the things we both want/need, your choices are really limited. We finally decided on a place that's funny enough, only like 2 1/2 blocks away from our place. I still have to deal with slow and crappy internet but I just couldn't quite bring myself to live in Spanish Fork and Leslie still isn't ready to move to the north valley or Salt Lake.

We have a lot of things signed and so far things look good. Our buyers seem to have their stuff in order and we don't anticipate any problems on our end so keep your fingers crossed. If all goes well, we'll close on the 3rd of August and we can move into a bigger house.

In some ways I'll miss this place but I kind of feel like we're not leaving at all. I mean, we're talking only a few blocks away, we still have access to the club house and pool, same TV and slow internet. I guess my need for adventure will have to wait another few years when I either get sick of my job or they go under for whatever reason. I'll tell you what I won't miss though, the stupid parking situation (still think we got the screw on that).

So kids are doing well. I hope you clicked on the link above as I included comments on all the pics for the occasional lawl. Parker has been growing... and growing and growing. Kid is getting big. Not necessarily chunky, just big. He has kind of an ornery disposition but when he's happy he's REALLY happy and has a really big silly smile. He's starting to get ticklish so I've really enjoyed that. Oh, and the best part is he's finally starting to sleep the whole night which has slowly brought sanity back to our house.

Gavin has been going to summer school partially so he can interact with other kids and partially so Leslie can have a break from him for a few hours of the week. He seems to really enjoy going so I feel it was money well spent. Gavin and Parker seem to get along OK for now. Parker is actually kind of enamored with Gavin since he's unpredictable and has way more energy than me and Leslie combined. I hope this lasts until Parker can actually defend himself since I know how big brothers can get.

Well, I'm going to stop writing this long post. Watch this blog for more pics of the kids as well as the exciting conclusion to the big move!

Sunshine and Clouds (And Everything Proud)

What a crazy weekend! A bit of good, a bit of bad, but definitely a whole lot of crazy (oh yeah, title is from Clap Your Hands Say Yeah).

My grandmother died earlier last week. Ottalyn Marsden Hansen Dinkelman was 77 I believe when it happened. She was still living by herself which is good in the sense that she never had to do the nursing home thing but kind of sad because she was alone when it happened. She's not alone anymore though as she's now with my grandfather who passed away several years ago due to a degenerative brain stem disorder. I've always had grandparents on both sides of my family so I don't really know what to think about not having any on a side. I never did develop strong ties to any grandparents so I guess I feel more sorry for my dad than anything. I did love Grandma Dinkelman as she was a smart lady who was very practical and always let us know we were in her thoughts. My only regret is not reciprocating that as often as I should have... Anyway, I'll miss you Grandma.

In the same weekend of the funeral, Leslie's water broke. It was kind of funny because it was Sunday night and she was just doing her blog reading while I did my Sunday night raid in World of Warcraft (WoW). I guess she sneezed and then came the water works. She called down letting me know what happened. I told my buddies on my game that I had to jet and got everything ready.

Leslie's parents came and picked up Gavin and we were on our way to the hospital. We arrived at like 11pm and the nurses started getting ready. When we got there she was already at a 5 which surprised us since when Gavin was born, I think we waited like 10 hours to get that far. What really surprised us was when she hit a 10 only like 2 hours later. Once the doctor arrived, she was ready to go and after only 2 pushes at 2:30am January 26th, Parker James Dinkelman was born.

We were both amazed at how fast things progressed as Gavin's labor was about 28 hours and Parker's was all of 3. Amazed, but not disappointed. Anyway, when he was born he weighed 9.5 lbs and was 21 inches long. I guess he's a big kid but he still looks teeny to me. Anyway, here's a series of gratuitous baby pics of the whole ordeal, enjoy!


Seconds after Parker is born, he looks pretty good with all that hair! I was hoping for curly hair but after getting cleaned up I don't think he'll get my curly locks.


The proud papa with a new boy. Myself and Leslie look so much better than after Gavin being born. Kind of helps when you're not exhausted physically and emotionally.

 

Flex those guns little dude! This is Parker getting his first bath in the hospital. He just sort of squealed when he was first born (much like Gavin) but wasn't afraid to exercise his lungs when they poked an prodded him during the exam.

 

Mom is REALLY outnumbered now. Gavin's initial reactions to Parker were interesting to say the least. He was almost afraid of him since I don't think he's seen a baby this small up close before. He's starting to come around but I'm still curious how he'll fill his big brother role.


Our little family is growing bigger. With Gavin it just seemed like me and Les with our little mascot but I feel like we're becoming more of a family unit. Just another step forcing me to grow up...


Leslie doesn't even look like she had a baby. She doesn't feel like it either so I guess that's good. The hospital stay was a little short but so far the recovery has been shorter this time around. We had to take the little guy home January 27 (yeah, the next day... go SelectMed, ya cheap buggers).


Well, this is Parker saying good bye. I look forward to keeping my parents up all night and non-stop eat-poop-sleep-repeat action!

Jigsaw Falling Into Place

Leslie's been saving her pennies from this awful, awful job she does with her mom so that Gavin can have a new bedroom set. And so here it is!


Gavin getting woken up by a flashing camera.

Leslie had been look at this set for a while at this place up in Orem called Knight's Mattress & Furniture Outlet (lol, kind of shocked they have a website). Let me take that back, she was looking at a different set for a while but liked this one better. The other one was more of a lighter color wood which she liked but it didn't seem that sturdy. She had me go look at the lighter one and they were pretty much out of them but had this new darker color set. This one was a little more expensive but they were having a sale and it seemed like it was better quality. I usually worry about these newer furniture places that crop up but I was pretty happy about the price and service. Only complaint I had (which more an observation than a complaint) was the salesman/owner was a little odd but it sure beats getting ripped off at RC Willey.


It's sad when Gavin gets a bedroom set before we do, at least it's really nice. Gavin looks so tiny in that huge bed.


Getting all this furniture also further solidifies the start of getting ready for the new baby. We thought Gavin would have a problem moving into his new room and bed but he was all for it. We bought the bed spread and all that at Targèt but Leslie's not 100% on board with it. Since the pictures, we've put up blue valances which I think add a lot but I guess she's not crazy about it since there's no built in theme for pictures or whatever we could put on the walls. I figure we'll see something that fits at some point and then we'll be set but I'm taking suggestions.


Here's the rest of the set, if he takes care of it, I think this could last until he moves out...


Anyway, we're going to leave the baby's room pretty much the way it is and clean it up a little. Every new step brings us a little closer to being ready for Mr. Wiggles II and he can't come soon enough.

It Still Moves...

I must apologize for this entry's title, I like to use titles from songs and albums I listen to because I'm an indie music snob which will probably be a recurring theme but hey, if you're interested, it comes from here.

So what still moves? The baby still moves! Or rather, it keeps moving. And it's no longer an 'it' either, it's a boy, woo! We went for an ultrasound the other week and had a look at the little guy. From what the ultrasound guy said, he's really healthy and definitely a boy. Though I think both me and Les were kind of hoping for a girl to complete the set, we are happy to find that this one's healthy.

So while we watched the ultrasound, we saw him just kicking away like it was going out of style. I really like to see the baby move in the ultrasounds as it makes it more real for me as the father. Leslie gets to feel him all the time but I don't feel anything until well into the 2nd trimester. I'm also looking forward to feeling him poking around with regularity. I'm also curious as to what Gavin will think of all this. Should prove to be interesting.